The Lagos State government on Tuesday said the Year 2024 Measles and Yellow Fever Mass Vaccination Campaign achieved significant milestones with a total of 3,595,461 children vaccinated against measles, representing 85 per cent coverage.
Additionally, the yellow fever vaccine achieved 95 per cent coverage with 20,366,405 Lagos residents vaccinated, while 163,553 eligible persons were vaccinated against HPV during the period.
It would be recalled that the state government commenced the Year 2024 Measles and Yellow Fever Integrated Vaccination Campaign on the 19th of October 2024, adjudged to be a landmark public health intervention that aimed at addressing gaps in immunisation coverage and curbing the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases in Lagos State.
Supervising Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Primary Healthcare Board, Dr Abimbola Bowale, made this known while speaking on the November Supplemental Immunisation Activities and the Polio Outbreak Response at a press briefing which took place at Alausa, Ikeja.
Bowale, while celebrating the success of the measles and yellow fever mass vaccination campaign, said that the efforts were bolstered by large-scale social mobilisation activities, which reached over 21 million people and strengthened health systems through enhanced cold-chain capacity and workforce training.
“The campaign was a testament to the unwavering commitment of our dedicated healthcare workers, the invaluable support of our partners, and the active participation of the good people of Lagos State.
“This comprehensive campaign targeted measles, yellow fever, and human papillomavirus (HPV), prioritising high-risk populations and leveraging innovative strategies to maximise impact.
“By focusing on both urban and remote communities, the campaign sought to achieve herd immunity, reduce disease transmission, and strengthen routine immunisation systems,” he said.
Speaking further, Bowale said that safeguarding the lives of Lagos residents remained a priority of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration.
He said that to ensure the state continued to remain free from the burden of all vaccine-preventable diseases, the government, in collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, would implement a Polio Outbreak Response in all Local Governments (LGs) and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to maintain the country’s polio-free status following the certification received in August 2020.
He disclosed that towards this end, a programme tagged “Outbreak Response (OBR)” would hold between Saturday, 18th to Tuesday, 22nd January 2025, during which vaccination teams would be required to visit residential homes, schools, churches, mosques, gated estates, and all public places where eligible children would be found.
Bowale warned against complacency, saying that doing so would make “the entire country vulnerable to reinfection by the wild poliovirus, especially with a recent outbreak of wild poliovirus type 1 in Malawi and Mozambique.
“Therefore, every state must maintain its zero WPV status and halt the transmission of circulating variant poliovirus type 2 (cVPV2) by conducting high-quality campaigns and improving routine immunisation coverage to ensure high population immunity as a deterrent against any reinfection of the wild poliovirus.
“The campaign is necessary to prevent a setback in our laudable achievements if the virus is not properly curtailed, and it is important to maintain the country’s polio-free status,” he said.
The permanent secretary commended the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for his political and financial support for this critical public health initiative, and the state First Lady, Claudiana Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, for her unwavering support for the campaign both at the forefront and behind the scenes, as well as her dedication to safeguarding the health of Lagosians, especially the children.
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